from British Medical Journal Open
We are used to hearing that fruits and vegetables are good for our physical health, but now British researchers link fruit and vegetable consumption with mental wellbeing. Writing in British Medical Journal Open, they found more than one-third of people surveyed with high mental wellbeing ate five or more portions of fruits and vegetables each day. Only about six percent of people who ate less than one portion were classified as highly mentally fit. Other health-related behaviors are linked with mental wellbeing, but along with smoking, fruits and vegetables were most consistently associated with both high and low mental wellbeing. The findings from studying fourteen thousand participants suggest that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables could enhance mental wellbeing at the same time as reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer.